Effective Strategies To Control Stink Bugs In Your Roanoke Property​

Did you know that one in four Americans can’t smell? If you fall into this statistic, then you may have never gotten a true feel for how lousy stink bugs really are. To you, crushing these pests isn’t a problem, that is, until someone around your complains about the horrible smell. If you are here today and can smell stink bugs, you have our sympathies. Having a strong sense of smell is great in many ways, but not when stink bugs are around. Regardless of how good your sense of smell is, if you are tired dealing with smelly or not smelly pests around your Roanoke home, use this simple secret to effective stink bug control.

What Are Stink Bugs?

You may have noticed, but stink bugs don’t invade homes during the summer months. This is because stink bugs are primarily agricultural pests. If you are a farmer with a crop of fruit, bell peppers, beans, or pecans, you already know this. It is only when the weather cools down in fall that stink bugs start looking for warmth around homes. Most commonly, they will congregate on an exterior wall that is facing the sun. From here, they will stumble upon cracks and gaps in your home’s exterior and find their way inside, sometimes in large numbers.

Identify stink bugs around your home by their mottled grayish-brown appearance, six stick-like legs, two long antennae, and shield shape. Inside homes, these smelly pests will congregate wherever they please, usually inside walls, attics, and crawl spaces, but sometimes out in plain sight. If one thing is always true, stink bugs never invade alone.

How Dangerous Are Stink Bugs?

Stink bugs are not dangerous in any sense of the word. They don’t have a stinger or sharp teeth to bite you with, they don’t spread dangerous diseases, and they aren’t looking to steal any of your blood while you sleep. The only problem you will find with these pests is with the pungent odor they release when threatened or squished. Many describe this odor as smelling like cilantro.

How To Prevent Stink Bugs

Stink bugs do not invade homes to find food; they get inside to stay safe from the cold. Keeping this in mind, the first thing you should do to prevent stink bugs is to inspect your home’s exterior for cracks, gaps, or openings, and seal them off so pests cannot get inside. This is done by filling the gaps in your home’s foundation using a caulking gun, repairing the torn window or door screens, addressing loose-fitting or damaged weather stripping, and installing door sweeps under all of your exterior doors. Once you have finished sealing off your home, the next thing you should do is eliminate things that attract stink bugs from around your yard. You can do this by making sure gardens are a good distance from your home’s exterior, picking up fruit as it drops from trees around your property, and reducing moisture by fixing leaks and repairing broken gutters.

The Only Way To Eliminate Stink Bugs

If your home is crawling with stink bugs, or you are looking for a reliable way to keep these pests out of your home this fall and winter, we have a great solution for you at Star City Pest Control. We design our stink bug control measures to not only eliminate current stink bug problems but also to keep these smelly pests out for good.

Give our team a call today to find out what advanced pest control measures and what our unmatched service looks like for your home.